The present invention is directed to a system for marking pavement such as streets with marking lines, and is particularly directed to pre-marking pavement with paint guiding marks to later guide a street striping machine.
Painting center line and side line stripes on streets and roads is important for guiding motorists and to reduce the possibility of accidents both by head on collisions and by vehicles colliding with vehicles, persons or other objects along the edge of the roadway. Therefore, many municipalities undertake to paint stripes along the center and edge lines of the roadway.
A major part of the street striping operation is called "pre-marking" which consists of measuring, from the curb or edge of the roadway, the locations at which the longitudinal paint lines are later applied. Most if not all of the pre-marking is done manually. For example, measurements are taken with a tape or string from the edge of the roadway, and paint spots are made on the street using a spray can or similar painting device. The result is not only time-consuming but, more importantly, is especially dangerous. Due to the risk involved, the street workers must be on constant alert to ongoing vehicle traffic while trying to make the appropriate measurements.